Hand luggage only – How to pack for long term travel

November 17, 2017/

As much as I love traveling, I hate packing and everything about it. Packing for long term travel is giving me headaches, to say at least. While admittedly there isn’t really a fix for it, I learned from trip to trip to diminish our baggage. With it the amount to pack, to carry, and finally to unpack again.

With a lot of annoyance, a bit of ambition, and fancying some improvisation and minimalism, you can at least travel light. Each item you are not packing – score!

As a family of four, we are traveling as much as possible with hand luggage only. To be fair, my children are no toddlers anymore, which makes it clearly easier. We don’t need to worry about highchairs, sippy cups or strollers. (Check with your airline if you can take baby/kids items for free on board). Also we are only taking the bare minimum on toys, if at all. There was more than one vacation where the backpack of the boys remained closed until we returned.

Despite all minimalism, we do need to carry along a portable car seat for travel. In our case we need a This small packable booster is a good alternative to dragging conventional car seats around the world with us or renting them when hiring a car. Their small travel size is not really interfering with the ambition to travel light and with roughly 1 pound they aren’t too heavy neither. When traveling with children, it’s safety first anyway.

Packing list that allows you to travel only with hand luggage

We are traveling as a family of four which means 4 cabin size carry-ons and maybe 4 little backpacks. Idea is to start small and not to overpack. We are counting one carry-on per adult, one for the kids and the fourth one for everything else. .

Don’t miss this guide if you need to know more about the luggage regulation of the different airlines.

We are traveling the world, not Mars. In most places we can purchase whatever might be missing. Even an additional bag if needed. It’s better to start as a ultralight traveller and top up than to cart tons of things along that nobody needs in the end. Check out this post from The Family Voyage and know which packing mistakes to avoid!

Must have items packing list – our travel essentials

Apparel

Clothes for 7 days. Yes, it is challenging. (check out our lightweight traveller tips below) Keep in mind that nobody knows you and no one will realise that you’re wearing the same shirt the 3rd day in a row. Consider your outfit your travel uniform and wear it with pride

rain jacket, long pants, sweater orfleece jacket. Even if you are travelling to warm regions. You might even want to think about taking a packable light weight jacket. There always can be a chill night or a too cold air-con that makes you want to get cozy.

hiking shoes or sneakers. We really like Hiking Shoes from Keens for the kids; they are easy to put on, drying fast and are having enough grip for easy hikes

flip flops/Birkenstocks

Products from Amazon.com

the easiest tip when it comes to packing light for long term travel: pick warm destinations! For example the Algarve Coast in Portugal

Hygiene, Health and Safety

I discovered Hammam Bath Towels recenty and they proved to be a great travel all-rounder: as a beach towel, a cover in air conditioned busses or as a towel at a pinch. The advantage over normal towels is clearly their light and quick drying.

we are normally using onetoiletry bag hangerfor all of us, as it’s simply super practically not to unpack something. To reduce charge, we are mainly buying products that all of us can use, travel sized if possible. (keep carry-on liquid regulations in mind when taking the plane!). Most toiletries can be bought at your destination,

Booster Car Seat for kids from 4 to 11. Our top item for everyone who doesn’t want to carry a normal sized conventional seat along or rent one from car hire company. It’s approved to the EU Safety Standards R44.04

we like to take as well a Dry Bag As per definition it keeps your stuff dry if needed. A dry bag is perfect for boat trips, rafting tours or even hikes. Your phone, camera or other small electronics are save, even if your bag falls into the water. It floats! But you can hack it also into a “washing machine”: insert your clothes with some washing powder/Shampoo and shake the bag for a couple of minutes. Don’t forget to rinse your wear with clear water though

If you have shoes in your bag, use it as extra storage for socks, underwear and other little items

Keep in mind: if you really inevitably missing something, you can buy it at your destination.

What are your best travel hacks? Share them below by leaving a comment, we would love to hear more about it!

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